Category Archives: Educational

If you follow my blog at all, you’ve no doubt noticed that I have not had the time to write any posts this summer. We have been busier than normal with the farm, and most of my “spare” time has been invested into the podcast that I’m doing weekly with Diego Footer of Permaculture Voices called “Grass Fed Life“.

For those of you who really value the information I’ve put out on the blog over the past three years, hopefully you’ve found the time to the listen to the podcast. Episode number 22 (8 Reasons Why You Might NOT Want To Start A Pastured Poultry Enterprise) came out today, and with it there are now over 23+ hours of audio for you to listen to. Contained within that audio is a lot of what I hope you would agree to be very valuable information. In all sincerity, there is way more content there than I could ever write for the blog during the same time period. We have covered everything from production on poultry and pork, to marketing dynamics and business basics. All in all, I think it’s a pretty solid replacement during the growing season for the written blog. But rest assured, I’ll get back to writing more blog posts this winter.

Many of you have been e-mailing and asking about when our next workshop would be scheduled and I’m happy to announce that we have one on the calendar for November 3rd-5th near our farm in Martinsville, IN. The Farm Business Essentials 3-day workshop is going to be intense, and I’m extremely excited about it! My excitement stems from two main sources: First, the curriculum we’ll be covering in this workshop is the meaty stuff that really matters if you want to make a legitimate go of farming for profit. This is the teaching that I really get into and enjoy sharing because it is so profoundly important to your success. Second, I’ll be co-teaching this workshop with my friend Diego Footer. Diego brings a lot to the table in terms of transitioning from one career to another, as he is currently working to build an income source that will allow him to work from home and spend more time with his young family. On top of that, he has spent countless hundreds of hours talking with and interviewing farmers in the regenerative agricultural space. The knowledge base he has to share in a workshop of this nature is incalculable.

I want to be clear that this workshop is specifically aimed at for profit farming, and not homesteading. The main focus will be aimed at helping aspiring farmers and existing farmers create a personal plan to transition towards an intentional part-time or full-time farming venture. We’ll certainly spend some time (about 25% of the workshop) on the “nuts and bolts” of how-to produce poultry and pork as well as an exhaustive tour of our farm. But the majority of our time will be focused on things like selecting the appropriate enterprise(s) for you on your farm at this point in time. We’ll also cover things like how to set realistic expectations for your farm, how to get your family on board and how to create a comprehensive year to year growth plan. We’ll also talk about balancing family with farm business startup, running a business, scaling up production while balancing marketing and refining your farm venture to decrease costs while increasing profits. This is not a class you will sit in and simply listen to the speakers talk – this will be an interactive experience where your participation will be expected in order for you to get the most value out of the workshop! You can read the entire itinerary on the Permaculture Voices website. We also have hotel accommodations listed as well for those of you coming in from out of town (please note the group rate discount code!).

So what’s included and what is the cost?

We have worked very hard to try and pack a lot of value into this workshop, and I think we have done just that. Please note that our three days together are going to be long and intense! But if you are serious about farming for profit, then please consider investing into yourself! For an in depth conversation about the workshop between myself and Diego, please listen to Episode 22 of Grass Fed Life.

$499 PER PERSON – EARLYBIRD PRICING ($599 after October 1)

$449 PER PERSON WITH TWO OR MORE REGISTRATIONS ($499 each after October 1)

We also have 12 VIP Spots Available (as of this writing only 3 of these remain available):

There is no extra costs for these spots. The first 12 registrants will be given VIP status. Each VIP attendee is invited to a special dinner on the farm on the night of November 5, will receive the whole PV3 Broadacre Video Package ($99 value), and get a free 1/2 hour of consulting with Darby AFTER the workshop. Darby will answer any questions that you might have and address any issues that you might need help with. These VIP spots are limited to the first 12 registrants.

There are a total of 25 workshop tickets available. The attendance of the event is limited to make the event more personal and allow a more customized and tailored content for the attendees.

What is else is included:

Lunch provided each day. Local and organic, meat provided by Darby’s farm.

Greg Judy: The Economics For Leasing Land, How To Find It and Develop It For Maximum Income (3HR)

Farm tour of Darby’s farm. See the systems in action.

Access to 3 monthly follow up webinars AFTER the workshop to help keep you on track and answer any follow up questions.

30 minute consult PRIOR to the workshop to help make sure that your concerns are addressed during the workshop.

Please note that this is the only workshop and/or speaking event that I currently have on the calendar. If the above content sounds like a good fit for where you are at with your farm, then please join us for this upcoming event this November! I’ll look forward to meeting many of you in person and I promise you’ll get way more value than you pay for at this event. Knowing what I know now, if I could travel back in time and attend something of this nature I would do it in a heartbeat. I feel strongly that this is one of the best investments you can make into yourself, your family and your farm business!

If you have been considering signing up for the June workshop at our farm, we still have seats available for this two day event. However, in order to plan our event we have set a registration deadline of June 1st. If you are thinking about coming, you’ll need to sign up before date.

Learning the skills that will be covered from our host of instructors will save you the time and pain in learning to be your own butcher, and show you how to confidently and successfully raise your own animals. The meat in your freezer will be of higher quality and quantity due to having gained the skills and confidence over these two days rather than through trial and error on your own. On top of that, we’ll simply have a blast during our two days together here at the farm!

As many of you know, I had the pleasure of being asked to be a presenter this past March at PV3 in San Diego. In addition to speaking at PV3, another opportunity was extended to me from Diego Footer of Permaculture Voices.

Diego asked if I would be interested in doing a weekly podcast with him this season in which he follows our farm week by week from April thru November. I love to speak and teach, and jumped at this new opportunity to share an in depth look into our farming lifestyle.

On April 4th, 2016 the first episode of “Grass Fed Life” debuted on the Permaculture Voices podcast and was downloaded over 3,000 times in the first 24 hours (extremely humbling to say the least). Since then, three additional episodes have been released covering a broad range of topics from the nuts and bolts of pastured poultry to the ins and outs of farmer’s markets and how we plan our whole farming season.

So far the feedback on the show has been fantastic, and I’m having a great time doing it with Diego. He asks such great, insightful questions that really prompt me to dig deep and think. As a result, we’ve had some great conversations that many listeners have found to be very helpful.

There is a new show every Monday, all season long and we’ll cover a broad range of topics – topics that don’t get discussed in this space nearly enough (or at all) and need to be. So tune in, have a listen and give us some feedback.

One final note: I’m doing this podcast because I love to teach, and I want you to be successful. It will be a long farming season, come along for the ride with us each week. I hope that you learn something new and can apply this knowledge to your own farming endeavors.